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Anne Stickney

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Breakfast Topic: Are you still hanging out on the Isle of Thunder?

Breakfast Topic Are you still hanging out on the Isle of Thunder
It occurred to me earlier this week, as I was doing another round of dailies on the Isle of Thunder, that I really had no reason to be doing them at all. I've been exalted with the Sunreaver Onslaught for quite some time now. There's nothing I need from the vendor. But something keeps me going back to this particular set of dailies over any other, even though I don't really need them anymore. Of course there's the weekly quest that's a pretty easy 150 valor, and the Treasure Vault to plunder, and of course there's the raid itself -- I really think the Throne of Thunder is the best raid we've had this expansion so far.

But there's also just something about that mysterious island. I love the saurok dailies, stomping bugs and jumping around like a maniac. I like going on the odd binge of rare-killing. I like the atmosphere of the area, which is odd in and of itself because the island is frankly, pretty gloomy -- but every time lightning hits a tree, I kind of have to marvel at how pretty it looks. As for the dailies themselves, they're pretty easy to complete, they send me on a circuit of the island, and they don't take very long. The dailies make it easy to rack up a quick 400-450g or so in a half hour, and I'm not going to complain about that.

I do wonder, though, if anyone else has a peculiar fascination with the Isle of Thunder. Are you exalted with your respective faction? Do you still do the dailies? Do you find yourself hunting for rares every week, or diligently making sure you get the Key to the Palace of Lei Shen? Or do you just head to the island for the raid? Will you head to the Isle after patch 5.3 arrives? Is there something on the island with enough of a draw to keep you coming back? And just because I'm curious -- what did you think of the Isle of Thunder dailies? Were they better than the ones offered in patch 5.1?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The curious neutrality of Anduin Wrynn

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition The curious neutrality of Anduin Wrynn
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Prince Anduin Llane Wrynn is the sole heir to Stormwind's throne. Named after Varian's father, the beloved King Llane, and the hero of all heroes, Anduin Lothar, he's got two major figures to live up to. Yet rather than turn down the path of Lothar's heroics, he seems to be gravitating towards the direction that King Llane ultimately followed: A beloved leader, one who treated all in his kingdom with kindness and respect, up to and including Garona -- a member of the Old Horde who by all rights, despite her background as a half-breed, was still the face of the enemy.

And in the end, that spelled King Llane's undoing. His trust was his weakness, and it resulted in his assassination. King Llane died in part because of the machinations of the Shadow Council, but in even larger part because he simply didn't exercise caution like he should. King Llane's death is a cautionary tale that his son Varian took to heart -- but Varian's son is a different story altogether. Anduin Wrynn presents a peculiar puzzle that has yet to be fully explained.

Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition, meaning the following is a look into what has gone before with pure speculation on what is to come as a result. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn't be taken as fact or official lore.

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Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore

Review of Dawn of the Aspects, part three by Richard A. Knaak

Review of Dawn of the Aspects, part three by Richard A Knaak
The action in Dawn of the Aspects heated up exponentially in part two of the series by Richard A. Knaak -- and part three only continues to both clarify and confuse in the most brain-bending, delightful way.

The third installment of Dawn of the Aspects, released Monday, continues to explore the purpose of the mysterious artifact Kalegos uncovered back in part one. It seems as though the visions Kalec has been experiencing are growing far more intense, enough to make the former Aspect question the reality of the future we're currently living in. More importantly, there are some important and thoroughly bizarre revelations that may actually shed some light on the Aspects as they turned out in present day.

Although the installments continue to be slightly confusing, we're beginning to get a grasp on just what this story is all about. And as mentioned in our last review, it's becoming far more clear that what happened in the past is apparently not only relevant, but incredibly important to the events of present day. Dawn of the Aspects is, so far, proving to be a delightful mystery of a book, not quite like anything we've seen come before.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Lore

Weekly Podcast Roundup: April 15-21, 2013

Weekly Podcast Roundup April 17, 2013
Every Monday evening, WoW Insider brings you a long list of WoW podcasts that were published the week and weekend before. If you don't see your favorite World of Warcraft podcast listed, just let us know in the comments. Be sure to leave a link to it, and we'll pick it up next week.

All podcasts and content belong to their owners. WoW Insider is not responsible for what you hear, and some of the content may not be safe for work.

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Filed under: Podcasting, Weekly Podcast Roundup

Know Your Lore: Is Garrosh Hellscream corrupt?

Know Your Lore Is Garrosh Hellscream corrupt
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

As the expansion rolls on, we are lurching towards something that we've known was coming since the beta for Mists of Pandaria -- Garrosh Hellscream's downfall and the Siege of Orgrimmar. Yet what we didn't know that day that were were informed of the expansions focus, is just how the new Warchief's reign would end. And as the patches have continued to roll out, we have more of an idea and a solid picture of both the Alliance and the Horde's place in this conflict. Make no mistake, Hellscream has made far too many enemies in his short reign, both within and without.

Yet there are those who point out Garrosh's actions and the possibility that his actions may not be under his control. That perhaps he's been corrupted by the Sha while searching for power in Pandaria. Or perhaps the bones of Mannoroth that Garrosh uses as his throne still have some vestige of darkness that lingers within. Or that perhaps the Old Gods have been slowly leeching their influence into Garrosh. Regardless of the methods behind it, there are plenty of people all wondering the same thing -- is Garrosh Hellscream corrupt? Are we going to fight the Warchief, only to discover a far greater horror waiting for us?

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Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore

The Queue: The Secret World of Og

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) found some of the dumbest stuff absolutely terrifying when she was a kid.

One of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons to watch were the ABC Weekend Specials that came on after the usual roundup of regular cartoons. Do you guys remember O.G. Readmore? Anyway, The Secret World of Og is based on a children's book by Pierre Berton. The animated version utterly scared the daylights out of me when I was a kid. I have no idea why. It seems pretty harmless now.

Nocjin asked:

My question: Do you think developers are greatly limited in what they can do with warriors as they use no magic at all? I mean coming up with new ability names must be a nightmare, how many more variations of "hit with weapon" are their left? And all the cool fancy stuff other classes can do won't make sense.

Ooo, it sounds like it's time for a little Saturday Morning Creative Thinking Fun™!

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Filed under: The Queue

The Queue: Tiny toons

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. It's Anne Stickney's (@Shadesogrey) turn to push the button, not yours. Hers.

There's this guy in my guild who, whenever he visits the lower nests on Ji-Kun, proclaims in vent that he is now going down the hole.

JonathanHill asked:

Doesn't it seem a little too soon for the fight with Garrosh to be so imminent? We've got probably a year and a half left for this expansion (if they don't speed up the release schedule for expansions). I'm actually kind of hoping this is just a feint in storyline progression.

Given how fast Blizzard has been cranking out the patches, I think we are finally seeing the kind of speedy expansion that Blizzard's always hoped for, but not quite been able to pull off until now. Will we see a patch after 5.4? Well ... that's a very good question, and it's something that I suspect will be addressed at BlizzCon in November.

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Filed under: The Queue

Weekly Podcast Roundup: April 7-14, 2013

Weekly Podcast Roundup April 17, 2013
Every Monday evening, WoW Insider brings you a long list of WoW podcasts that were published the week and weekend before. If you don't see your favorite World of Warcraft podcast listed, just let us know in the comments. Be sure to leave a link to it, and we'll pick it up next week.

All podcasts and content belong to their owners. WoW Insider is not responsible for what you hear, and some of the content may not be safe for work.

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Filed under: Podcasting, Weekly Podcast Roundup

Know Your Lore: What is the Alliance missing?

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Alliance lore and the Alliance storyline in general have both been subjects of contention since some point early in Cataclysm, and the complaints don't seem to be getting any quieter. In the upcoming patch 5.3, the Alliance will be taking a direct hand in the events playing out near Orgrimmar, but not in the way you would readily expect. And oddly, this has Alliance players worked up in a near frenzy on realm and story forums, bitter and angry about the direction the Alliance storyline has been taking and repeatedly demanding more.

And it is incredibly difficult to understand just what all the fuss is about. There isn't a tangible moment that one can point to, there isn't a cohesive example of what has been happening. There's just a sense of unhappiness that is, to Alliance players, absolutely real. So this week, we're going to take a slightly different route for Know Your Lore. We're going to look at the nuts and bolts behind Mists of Pandaria, the Alliance, and the story so far. And we're going to do so in as analytical and constructive a manner as possible, to try and find that specific what-happened that seems to be bothering so many players.

Let's take a deep breath, dive in, and ask ourselves not "what is wrong," but instead, "what is the Alliance missing?"

Please note: Today's Know Your Lore contains some spoilers for patch 5.3 content. If you're trying to avoid spoilers, you may want to turn away.

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Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore

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